The interaction of light with semiconductor materials has been a significant innovation. Silicon imaging devices are used in various technologies, such as digital cameras, optical mice, video cameras, cell phones, and the like. Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) were widely used in digital imaging, and were later improved upon by complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) imagers having improved performance. Many traditional CMOS imagers utilize front side illumination (FSI). In such cases, electromagnetic radiation is incident upon the semiconductor surface containing the CMOS devices and circuits. Backside illumination (BSI) CMOS imagers have also been used, and in many designs electromagnetic radiation is incident on the semiconductor surface opposite the CMOS devices and circuits. CMOS sensors are typically manufactured from silicon and can covert visible incident light into a photocurrent and ultimately into a digital image. Silicon-based technologies for detecting infrared incident electromagnetic radiation have been problematic, however, because silicon is an indirect bandgap semiconductor having a bandgap of about 1.1 eV. Thus the absorption of electromagnetic radiation having wavelengths of greater than about 1100 nm is, therefore, very low in silicon.